Wow, rough day. Well, as it relates to drafting a blog entry. Sure, I took the pup out this morning, and the Mrs walked next to me for the first mile, but I waited until the sun started to go down before writing anything. This left me with a blank in my head.
For tracking, the pup n I did 4.15M in 1h:4m at an average pace of 15:23. Remember, the first mile was a casual walking pace for most of it, until someone needed to go potty, then the pace picked up a bit. She has a workout scheduled later, so I continued with the pup, trying to make an honest 30/30 run/walk. Oh, and I put on the Garmin and kept track (just in case you thought I might be making this up.) You can see from the chart below about 20 minutes in, we transitioned from a walk to a run walk. Those white gaps are where the pup sniffing was prioritized of our movement, and the wider the gap, the more likely I was picking up poo.
Oh, and the gap at the beginning of the pace was a result of an old Garmin does not acquire the satellites for a bit so there is a blank where I pushed start before GPS caught up. Not a big enough deal to justify the cost of a new gadget.
While the chart may not reflect it, I was a bit challenged keeping up with a consistent 30/30 ratio and the pace. I blame the fact I also put on music, which distracted me from the watch’s vibration. I usually only have my thoughts, but this morning, I tried to put a headset on and see what it was like to run with music.
To be honest, for me, the music was barely background. If I turned it up to where I wanted, I couldn’t hear much else, even though they were not in or over my ear. Those new bones rattling version that lets you listen to your environment, and yes they do work, but when you crank them up, it pretty much cancels the ability to hear anything else. It’s no different than speakers in a living room. When they are down low, I can hear it, but I have to focus to enjoy it. That focus I suspect, made me miss the vibration when I was supposed to switch from walking to running. Call me special, but I just would instead run naked. Well, ears, that is. I had the same challenge when I used a beep on my watch.
But that was not the only problem. On the run portions, I was not able to keep a pace I thought was comfortable. Now that may sound counter-intuitive, but I “feel” the pace and am used to when I am pushing harder than normal and when slacking. What I thought should have been ordinary felt like I was pushing too hard. Conveniently, my route has a radar sign that accurately clocks me in at six mph when I am running at a comfortable pace. In front of that sign, while it shouted the normal six mph at me, I felt I was faster based on my respiration. Who knows though. There were a lot of changes this morning from the norm. The initial mile walk, the music, oh, and I swapped my New Balance with my Hoka’s. None of these might have been at fault, but we’ll see what happens tomorrow.
What was more challenging was how my brain fills with thoughts on what to write about while I am running, and then throughout the day, it slowly drains out. Nice visual, huh? But that is how the day felt as I engaged at work; more and more ideas slipped out, and after dinner, when I sat down to write, I was blah.
I know my primary reader would have insights into how to break through this block. She is a phenomenal writer and even offers to coach others. Then, she is creative, and her writing has more of a focus with an intended flow, while mine is just a stream of consciousness. I’m unsure if she reads this or, with a post like this, reads this far.
Well, I’ll wrap this up for now and see what happens next.
Thanks for reading,
Mama’s friend